Oscar Pistorius murder case back in the spotlight

The National Prosecuting Authority says it wants to avoid setting a precedent in the Oscar Pistorius murder case as it heads back to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

The court in Bloemfontein will, on Friday, hear the State’s appeal against Pistorius ‘murder sentence.

This is not the first time this court will hear an appeal in the Pistorius case as it previously replaced his culpable homicide conviction with one of murder.

The High Court in Pretoria sentenced the athlete to six years behind bars for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013.

A sentence that the then State Prosecutor Gerrie Nel described as being too lenient saying that “it is shocking to think that a sentence of six years, from the starting point of 15 years, is appropriate.”

Speaking to POWER 98.7, NPA’s Luvuyo Mfaku said the sentence is shockingly light.

“We believe that a reasonable court would come to a different conclusion hence we have taken the matter on appeal. We are addressing a principal, we’ve got nothing against Mr Pistorius, we want to ensure that a precedent is not created where people are convicted of murder which carries a minimum of 15 years but are sentenced to a mere six years.”

Pistorius defense team says the case has reached a point of exhaustion suggesting that double-amputee sprinter has been punished enough for the incident will haunt him for life.